


Sand in the Glass

by cleo (miri_cleo)



Category: Fringe
Genre: Community: femslash11, F/F, Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-16
Updated: 2011-08-16
Packaged: 2017-10-22 16:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/240234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miri_cleo/pseuds/cleo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Olivia knows she can't ask something of Nina Sharp without expecting to be asked for something in return.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sand in the Glass

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fictorium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictorium/gifts).



> For damelola for Femslash11!

Olivia didn't like being kept waiting, especially not on her trips to Massive Dynamic. But each time, the length of time she sat in Nina Sharp's office—a room that always struck her as cold, sterile and bright—grew a little longer. Olivia had to admit that with each visit, her time belonged less to whichever case she brought with her, and more to her own curiosity, her need to know what Nina was holding back.

Everyone had secrets. Olivia exhaled, sighing deeply as she squeezed the bridge of her nose. There were so many more secrets...no, such bigger, deeper...such stranger secrets than she could have ever imagined. And it was all beginning to seem almost routine.

“Long day, Agent Dunham?” At Nina's voice Olivia straightened, suppressing a chill. “I've had the files you requested copied for your convenience. I don't need to tell you that the information is...sensitive. But I see no reason why you can't take it with you. No doubt you'll want to share it with your superiors as well as with the Bishops.”

Olivia stood, resisting the urge to tug at the hem of her jacket before she took the folders. Her eyes lingered on Nina's gloved hand. “Thank you. This is very...forthcoming of you.”

There was something about the way Nina's lips curled into a slight smirk—but only for a moment—that did nothing to lighten Olivia's suspicion. She watched as Nina folded her hands in front of her and took measured steps to the window. No doubt she had gazed into the expansive view it offered many times before, but each time Olivia was present to see her do it, it was as if Nina was memorizing every detail of the skyline, of the people, specks below, as they moved and changed. She glanced to the files and put them carefully on the edge of the desk.

Olivia knew she could go at any time, but moved toward the window, her steps seeming louder than Nina's had ever been. She glanced down, trying to see what Nina could see. Instead, Olivia found her eyes seeking Nina's face.

“Is there anything else you can tell me?” she asked, her own voice stilted.

“You should find the material sufficient.”

“Just sufficient?” Olivia scoffed.

Nina was silent, but her eyes never stilled, as if she knew precisely what was happening on the street, in the building across from her, in the dusk streaked sky. “What is now merely sufficient for you, Agent Dunham, would be life changing for any of them.” She paused, but she did not look at Olivia. “It was once for you, not so long ago.” But Olivia could hear more distance in the sound of Nina's voice than her words suggested. She cocked her head.

“Yeah. Yeah, it was, but...”

“Of all the things the people below might be imagining right now, what you know is so much closer to the world they live in that even the remotest possibility wouldn't seem realistic at all. And yet...” Nina shook her head, and Olivia could hear the creek of leather as she tightened her hand. “How hollow we must seem.”

“Ms. Sharp, if there is anything else...” This time Olivia was close to a demand, even though demands only got her so far with Nina Sharp. Sometimes they drew out a smile, a tilt of Nina's head. Sometimes they were simply met with a stare. But this time, Nina turned to her, catching her by surprise.

“Have you reconsidered my offer, Olivia?”

“I've already told you that I'm not interested in leaving Fringe Division,” Olivia replied quickly.

The room was growing awash with burnt orange and purple, and Olivia felt like the air between them was too thick. Nina put her hand on Olivia's arm—the prosthetic, Olivia knew without looking. “Not that offer.”

Just as when that offer had been made in quiet, vague words, Olivia's breath stopped moving between her parted lips. Nina's eyes were so blue that they made Olivia feel colder with each passing moment, but she could not look away. The shadows of the windowpanes fell across their faces, and neither of them closed their eyes when Nina kissed her.

She felt Nina's fingers tighten on her arm and Nina's other hand on her hip. Olivia put her palms on Nina's chest; it was as mechanical as the urge to close her eyes, to press into Nina's lips and be overcome by the heat of her breath, the taste of her mouth. The halo the sunlight made of Nina's red hair burned the edges of Olivia's vision, and they kissed as if tethered in a stalemate.

When it broke, Olivia drew in a breath so violent it was as if she were breathing for the first time. Nina watched her just as intently as she had stared through the glass, and Olivia was almost sure Nina could see her thoughts—the curve of a naked hip, the join where naked arm met metal. She wondered how those gloves would feel on bare skin, knowing all too well how what was underneath them felt.

“One breadcrumb will lead to another and another and ten thousand more, Olivia, and some of them will continue to lead you here.”

Olivia stepped back and the long shadows grew between them. “Then I guess I should keep following them here until they lead me to something else,” she said, her voice hard.

“And the offer will stand.” Olivia watched as Nina turned back to the glass, her face hidden behind her hair. The sunset was obscured by the skyline, and as it grew darker, the room automatically became flooded with bright, unnatural light.

Olivia touched her own lips before stepping back. She carefully picked up the stack of folders and hugged them against herself as if they would calm her beating heart. Nina clasped her hands behind her back. She may have sensed that Olivia was waiting, but before Olivia could question herself about why and what for, she turned on her heel.

“Thank you for your help. I'll send word if we need more.”

She didn't wait for an answer, a cold pleasantry. She pulled the door open, poised to breathe more easily.

“It's amazing the limits we set for ourselves, isn't it, Agent Dunham? Give my best to your team.”


End file.
